The management of the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri has decided to create a separate dining zone for devotees to partake of mahaparsad, the cooked food offered to the deities.

The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration decided to set up the new dining area, which would be called Anna Kshetra, because of the huge rush of devotees and the space constraint at Ananda Bazar on the premises.

Having mahaparsad becomes all the more difficult for the devotees during festivals like Dola Dussehra and New Year.

The temple has been witnessing a huge rush for the past four days on account of the Dola Yatra. The temple closed around 3am on Friday. “There is a rush that continues throughout the day and devotees face many difficulties in partaking of the food. The current Ananda Bazar inside the shrine does not have the required space to accommodate such a huge number of devotees,” said an official of the temple administration.

The chairman of the temple Management Committee, Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb, said: “Under the Srimandira Parikrama project, we wanted to create a new designated place outside the Uttara Dwara (North Gate) for partaking of the mahaprasad. The devotees can buy the mahaprasad from Ananda Bazar and take the same to the newly designated place and eat there.”

Deb added: “When the Ananda Bazar was created, there was less congestion and the rush of devotees was much less compared to the present day. The
newly designated dining place will be known as Anna Kshetra.”

The temple administration has also planned to revamp the Roshsala (the cooking place) of the Gundicha temple, where food is being prepared for more than 50,000 a day during the Rath Yatra. Lord Jagannath and his siblings come there for a nine-day sojourn during the Rath Yatra every year.

“There is always a huge pressure on the Rosashala. The work for revamping the Rosasalla will start after the Rath Yatra is over this year. And the complete renovation of the Roshasala will be completed before the Rath Yatra in 2026,” said the chief administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple, Arabinda Padhee

The management also plans to shift the temple administration office to a new location. A new reception centre will come up in the existing temple office.

The temple administration asked the Odisha Bridge and Construction Corporation, which is implementing the Puri Parikrama Prakalp, to finish the ongoing Pramod Udyana (the pleasure garden) project of the Lord as soon as possible.